Pirate Cultures Vienna is dedicated to artistic and cultural approaches in Vienna that aim to reclaim not only physical urban spaces but also digital, virtual and technological spheres. The anthology contains a series of articles by local representatives from various disciplines. Artists, activists, hackers, researchers and media makers were invited to share their approaches and ideas. Their actions and projects are rooted in the fields of art and culture, yet simultaneously extend beyond them. Such transdisciplinary approaches open up opportunities for alliances and emancipatory political resources under precarious living and working conditions.

We understand pirate cultures as a multitude of cultural phenomena that have developed in response to a political climate of commodification and exclusion. Based on a series of self-organized initiatives, this book wants to tell not only of social struggles but also of collective utopian desires. In this context, artistic research is understood as problem-centered, but also as “fantastic and situated.”